Time Well Spent
by Kate Christie
Summary: "She woke to his hands smoothing gently up and down her back, the warmth of his body close behind her but out of sight in the dimly pinking light of dawn." A fun, sexy little follow-up to my earlier story, "Time Saved," in honor of the start of Daylight Savings Time today. Thanks to Angie for my awesome "Art-on-Demand," and to Joy for reprising her role as beta-extraordinaire.


**Time Well Spent **

A/N: A sequel to my one-shot from last fall, "Time Saved," in honor of turning the clock forward in the U.S. this morning for Daylight Savings Time. Read it here, not that you really NEED TO, since this is about the best example of M-rated "plot, what plot?" I have ever written...

www dot fanfiction dot net slash s slash 8675344 slash 1 slash

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She woke to his hands smoothing gently up and down her back, the warmth of his body close behind her but out of sight in the dimly pinking light of dawn. Schooling her breathing, she tried to hide her wakefulness for a moment, to enjoy the play of his strong fingers through the soft cotton of her t-shirt.

It was Sunday. She wasn't on call. And through some kind of miracle, she must have slept past five AM. But why was the king of sleeping in waking her now?

Before she could spin a theory, one hand snaked around her ribcage, gently palmed her breast. His body scooted closer, spooning up against her, counteracting the chill drifting in through the one window cracked open near the head of the bed.

And oh, my. Suddenly she knew exactly why she was being woken up so early. She could feel the reason nudging firm against her lower back.

Good morning, Mr. Castle.

Just then, he slid the edge of his thumbnail over her nipple, and she gasped, sucked in a breath as it peaked, hard and tingling, in an instant. So much for playing possum.

His thumb and forefinger captured the bud, rolled it with just enough force to make her arch into his hand, let out a guttural moan from the back of her throat.

"Good morning, gorgeous."

The words danced warm against the shell of her ear, and she leaned into his stubbly chin, letting its roughness scrape away the last vestiges of sleep as he attached his lips to that spot behind her ear.

Pressing her hips back, she rolled them against his arousal, drawing an answering moan just as his tongue laved along the curve of her neck. Her smile overflowed into her voice.

"You have that dream again? The one with the bikini that just won't stay on?"

Grinding his hips into her, he finished his tongue's meandering swipe with a nip at the point of her shoulder.

"Ooo. Excellent dream. But no, just woke up with you curled up next to me in this big, soft bed, all snuggly and sexy. Got inspired."

Reaching up, she carded her fingers into his hair, scratched lightly against his scalp.

"I must be quite a muse to inspire _this_ level of enthusiasm so early in the morning," her hips rotated against him again, and he answered with a thrust and another tweak of her nipple.

"You kidding? If you didn't wake up before me, we'd be doing this every damn day."

A fresh wave of arousal flooded her veins at the thought of being woken every morning for a bout of loose, limber, toe-curling sex before her coffee. God, she needed to start setting his alarm half an hour before hers. What was she thinking? Forty-five minutes at least.

His fingers picked that moment to slip under her shirt, dance across her stomach, dip into her belly button. Stalling. Now he was just stalling.

Turning halfway around toward him, she met his mouth, made him lean over to chase her. Kissing the breath out of him, tongue asserting her impatience, she swallowed his humming response and dove in for more.

The kiss must have finally tipped him over, and in a flash their clothes were gone, and his arm was banded around her waist, tugging her back flush against his chest again. His knee slid between her thighs, hips canting down, parting her legs from behind.

Draping one back over his hips, she opened herself to him, and he didn't disappoint.

Nimble fingers brushed over her curls, traced the angle between her hip and thigh, ghosted over her center until she grunted in frustration, tugging on the short hair at the nape of his neck.

"Tell me what you want, Kate."

Infuriating, ridiculous tease of a man...

"Touch me."

The little press of her hips forward only made him cluck in her ear and trail even further from where she wanted him.

"Oh, but I am... touching you."

Kate Beckett did not beg in bed. Kate Beckett did not beg anywhere, anyhow. But damn it if she wasn't going to beg right now...

"Please."

The first slick glide of his thick fingers between her folds drew a curse from her lips, but his touch was addictive, inciting riots of want that only rose higher when he circled her aching bundle of nerves gently, slowly, persistently, so perfectly in tune with her body that she nearly sobbed out his name. He kept it up until she could stand it no longer, until he had her teetering on that delicious ledge, her body begging to tip over. And then he stilled, a brief reprieve that made her moan at the loss of friction.

But then the stretch of his fingers at her entrance, pressing deep inside, curling to put pressure on her sweet spot, only made her want more, and harder, and faster. How did he manage to do this to her? Turn her into a wanton, mewling, writhing waif before the sun was even up?

"Castle..."

His smile grew against her skin.

"Impatient, this morning, are we?"

That smug little puff of hot breath against her shoulder blade would have earned him a flip onto his back for a little tormenting of her own, except that she knew what he was about to do and she really, really wanted him to just hurry up and-oh fuck.

Tilting his hips forward, sliding his fingers from her heat, he had slipped his length between her folds, not sinking inside, just gliding through her arousal, letting the ridge at his tip play over her clit.

"You know I love it when you talk dirty, Beckett."

Damn it, she must have said that out loud.

And now she couldn't decide which she needed more, for him to keep going, doing this perfect, spectacular, phenomenal thing that was making her completely crazy with the driving, pulsing, _almost_, or to-

"Yes. Oh yes."

His hips slid back, making her choice for her as he guided himself inside her unhurriedly, the angle keeping him shallow but wedging him against her front wall. A shuddering breath rippled against her spine as he sank deeper, and he let out his own curse when his hips met the curve of her ass.

From there, everything was a blur of swift, sharp, stuttering thrusts, the slap of skin meeting skin, the harsh, desperate cries of "faster," "harder," "yes."

Sliding her own fingers down to where they were joined, she felt her flesh tighten, spread, give way with every movement of his body inside hers. His hand found her breast again, slicking her own arousal over her straining peak, pinching hard, just exactly enough to make her press forward into his hand, arch her back, change their entire angle to allow him to sink deeper.

And with that shift, she was done for. Her fingers found her clit and pressed, letting the speeding rhythm and escalating force of his strokes guide her motion.

"Now, I'm going now."

Snapping his hips, he drove into her until the spring wound tight in her belly finally released, the pleasure sparkling out until her fingertips were glowing with it, her toes digging into the mattress, her cheek pressing into the pillow as she cried out.

Her name bellowed in her ear as he spilled inside her, every muscle taut and flexing up to push him deeper, riding the waves with her to the end.

When their bodies stilled, he curled around her, tucked the covers in at their shoulders, snuggled against her as she drifted toward sleep.

One orange beam of sunlight snuck through the billowing drapes, striking the face of the clock on the bedside table, pulling her back from the languid edge of dreams.

"Hey, doesn't Daylight Savings start today?" she mumbled drowsily.

"Mmm hmm. Think so."

She chuckled into his bicep where it curved across her collarbone.

"What's so funny?"

She smiled against his skin.

"That's one way to spring forward, Castle."

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Thank you, Joy, for yet another adventure in beta-sitting. You're so good at talking me down from my adjective-laden ledges. And AC, please don't faint over the fact that I've published twice in ONE DAY. You have to be conscious to read this one... ;)

Twitter: Kate_Christie_

Tumblr: KathrynChristie dot tumblr dot com


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